It's a little snowy

It's not unusual for us to get a bird in and we don't know how it got its injuries. Alaska is the largest state in the union with a population of about 665,000. Our population is smaller than Rhode Island. What I'm getting at is that there's plenty of open space.

This juvenile Snowy Owl came to us from Barrow. We think it's a he because of its size, but we don't know yet. He was found dragging its wing when it walked and obviously couldn't fly. It had several fractures to the right wing.

Dr. Todd Palmatier figures the wing could be saved, but the little guy probably won't get well enough to release. Because of the location and type of break, he decided to go with an external fixitor. If you remember, we used an external fixitor back in July on a Great Horned Owls leg.

Dr. Michael Riddle is a volunteer DVM at TLC also. He came along to observe the operation and assist. The operation took about 1 1/2 hours and we think it went well. We all have our feathers crossed.

We had lots of ER supplies and equipment donated recently, so it was a tight squeeze for the humans in the exam room, but there was plenty of space for this guy. Check out that he still has its immature coloring.


In celebration of our 20 Years of TLC, We have a special pin available. Go to our main webpage at http://www.birdtlc.net/ and you can order yours for $5.00 plus $1.00 s&h or you can save a buck and buy one in person at the Bird TLC Office. Tell them a little Snowy Owl sent you.